03 Sportsman 700 Control Arm Bushings
 

I replaced my rear wheel bearings, and while I had it apart I decided to replace all of the rear control arm bushings. On the right lower arm, I could not get the inboard shaft out. I cannot get it to turn. I put a bolt back in it and beat it with a hammer and it never budged. Is there a trick to removing the shaft, or should I just look for a used control arm? Also, the upper control arm bolts are installed with the nuts on the outside, so I can't get the front bolt to slide out because of the axle shaft. Is this the way they are supposed to face? I didn't want to pull the axles so I left the old bushings in. If they can go the other way, I'll cut the head off and install a new bolt the other way.

Liquid Wrench,PB Blaster and heat along the swing arm can usually free up frozen, rusted shafts along with using an air hammer with a round dull bit to drive it out.If damaged too far replace the shaft. If you can wire wheel the shaft to remove the corrosion,retap any damaged threads you can save the expense of replacing the shaft. I've had my share of these over the years I've been able to save.As far as which way the bolt sticks back in,no certain way,but you'll see when you reinstall some you can only install them a certain way because of frame and tab clearance.